Crush Berry Tart

Although I am now calling this "Crush Berry Tart", don't let the name fool you - there are no crushed berries to be found inside this delicious treat. I made this particular tart for a Sunday potluck dinner, knowing that a certain cute boy ("the crush") was going to be in attendance. Since he raved to me about the tart and helped himself to seconds, I am now considering this one of my greater life achievements. So whether you have an adorable new crush to impress or not, this is an easy way to make people believe that you actually know how to bake sweet things.

I am not much of a baker, so I enjoy making desserts that allow me to use my more "this looks like about a cup" mind instead of being concerned with teaspoons and other unnecessary measurements. Also I don't actually have any measuring tools other than the palm of my hand. Luckily I've been making this tart for years now and the "measurements" just come intuitively at this point.

Here's the recipe I've adapted from Ina Garten's Plum Tart:

• 2 cups Flour
• 3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 3/4 cup Finely Chopped Walnuts
• 1 Egg
• 1 and 1/2 sticks of Butter
• 2 pounds of Mixed Berries
• Optional: Lemon Zest and Juice
  

Combine everything except for the berries. For this particular tart, I used a medium-sized espresso cup to make my measurements, but if you want to be fancy, go ahead an pull out those dusty measuring devices. To me chopping the walnuts are the best part, so make sure you buy them not pre-chopped, and then mince back and forth until you have worked out all of that tension that the last boyfriend cause. There is no need to bring out a spoon, spatula, or hand mixer. God gave you hands for a reason, and it was for mixing dough. Use them. The mixture will be crumbly, and if you want to stretch it a little further or it looks a bit too wet, you can add more flour.

Press about 3/4 of the dough mixture into the bottom of a tart pan. There's no need to grease it, goodness, you just put in 12 tablespoons of butter! Make sure you work it into the pretty ridges around the pan. Dump in your berries that you may or may not have mixed with fresh lemon zest and some squirts of the juice. (Note: Don't cut the fruit into too small of pieces. You want to see what you are eating and not have it turn into mush!) Crumble the rest of your dough mixture on top.

Bake in an oven at 400°F for 40 minutes. Check it at ten minute intervals to make sure it's not getting too brown on top. If so, make a little foil tent or cover with another baking pan. When it is done, the juices should be bubbling. Eat it warm or chilled and definitely serve with vanilla ice cream. If all goes well, the crush should proceed to walk you to the nearest metro stop at the end of the night, and then you will know that it was all worth it.